NASA’s Hangar One in 1999. Google has leased the former naval base, including three historic hangars, two runways, adjacent land and buildings. Photo: NASA Ames Research Center

If you were Google, what would you do with a 350,000-square-foot (32,516-square-metre) hangar that was originally built to house helium airships for the US Navy?

How about using its cavernous interior for building and testing new robots, planetary rovers and other space or aviation technology?

A NASA spokeswoman has confirmed that those plans are part of the proposal submitted by a subsidiary of the giant internet company, along with restoring the outside of the landmark structure known as Hangar One at Moffett Federal Airfield in California...